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Front Page > News > Achieving Action
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Residents will plan the future of municipalities |
Achieving action 16 March 2010
Instead of groaning and grumbling quietly to themselves, today’s municipal residents are genuinely interested in issues concerning the development of their home region. At least this is the case in Mikkeli, where residents have actively provided suggestions and comments on the various future scenarios for their home town by using the online envisioning tool. Soile Kuitunen, Development Director of the City of Mikkeli, believes that by the end of this decade, planning for the future in municipalities in a way that involves the public and is based on their needs and ideas will be standard practice in Finland.
In Mikkeli, a banner on the City website and the e-mail invitations circulated by the city’s residents resulted in well over 500 members of the public sharing their opinions on how the city should be developed in the future. Through the online envisioning tool, more than 700 shared their opinions and ideas, which were then actively commented on and discussed. The discussions are compiled on the Minun Mikkelini (‘My Mikkeli’) website.
“The public really rose to the occasion and expended a substantial amount of time on considering various future scenarios. Issues related to housing and the development of the harbour area proved to be of particular interest. The residents of Mikkeli seem to have a strong belief in the future of the region,” says Kuitunen. Our interview took place in her beautiful office, overlooking the market place, which currently looks like one big building site. As the city’s Development Director, she finds that the large number of ongoing building projects in the city is a clear indication of the desire to invest in its future.
From opinion polls to genuine dialogueIf local residents are involved in the development of municipal services, they are also more committed to using and maintaining them. In this way, the obscure red tape and complicated bureaucracy is made more concrete, it becomes ‘our business’.
“A sense of belonging is fairly high up in Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, so for local residents to feel part of their community is an important aspect in local administration. It is no longer enough just to ask residents for their opinions; they want to engage in genuine dialogue with decision-makers and officials. The new generations will not settle for being dictated to from above, they will actively seek new ways of operating. The interactive survey, which can be accessed online, is one way of responding to this need,” says Kuitunen. The implementation of the envisioning tool piloted in Mikkeli was supported by Sitra’s Municipal Programme; the tool was created by Fountain Park Oy. The same tool was also tested in Tampere in spring 2009.
“The application we employed was very good. Over the next few years, interactive and visual online surveys will improve in leaps and bounds. They will also become better integrated into municipal decision-making systems. In a couple of years' time, resident-focused development and planning of municipal services will be commonplace,” says Kuitunen.
Will most of Finland become some kind of retreat for those in work? Born and raised in Mikkeli, Kuitunen studied and earned her doctorate in Turku, after which she worked for years as a consultant in the Helsinki region. She admits to preferring life in a smaller town. There are many like her, who have returned to their home town, and Mikkeli can just about boast a positive net migration rate. In Mikkeli, everything a person needs is close by, but the future of the city cannot be based on the natural environment and Lake Saimaa alone.
“I don’t quite go along with the prevailing view that in addition to one real metropolis, Finland should make do with only a few urban growth centres. Is the idea really that only a few small dots on the map of Finland should be developed, while the rest of the country remains some kind of holiday resort for those who are trying to recover from the demands of a hectic, urban working life at their cottages?”
In Kuitunen’s view, Sitra could have a more active role than before in the country’s regional development. “Sitra is an active, visionary operator that has its feelers out. It could adopt an even more user-oriented approach in its programmes,” says Kuitunen, who has previously evaluated Sitra’s processes as a consultant.
The future of Finland looks good despite the challengesKuitunen sees a bright future not only for Mikkeli but also the whole of Finland. She thinks that Finland in 2020 will be a much more pluralistic and multicultural country. People in Finland believe in competence development, technology and innovation.
“And this is how it should be,” says Kuitunen. “Social polarisation is the downside to the rapid development in Finland. What should we do about people who cannot keep up with the pace? How will children and young people fare in the tough competition? What will an Americanised working culture do to people who work long hours for years on end?” Kuitunen asks.
On the other hand, she sees no alternative. “Companies, municipalities and states must constantly keep developing. There is not point resisting the facts and ad-hoc measures are short-lived remedies. They are not what a sustainable future is built upon,” Kuitunen concludes.
Text and photo: Kai Tarkka/TrueStory
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Soile Kuitunen
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